Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Vitality (2/24)

Chapter 1


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His legs trembled slightly as he stood. Six hundred fifty-seven. That was the number of dead bodies he’d pulled out of the wreckage, though he knew the actual death count was up over one thousand by now. His eyes lingered briefly on the last body. A young girl, probably no more than fifteen. She’d been at the bowling alley with her friends when the earthquake had hit. Several of them had not made it out. They’d been crushed under tons of debris.

“Superman, is that the last one?”

The clear voice of the police chief sounded from behind him, and Superman stood up taller, trying to maintain his composure, and turned around.

“Yes, I think so,” Superman replied, his voice tight. He’d scanned the building several times now and hadn’t seen or heard anything that would indicate the presence of additional victims. “Do you know if I’m needed anywhere else?”

The man shook his head. “I believe you’ve covered all the collapsed buildings and bridges,” he answered, his dark eyes weary. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your help, Superman. All these families will have closure, and all the survivors, who may not have made it out without you here. Thank you.”

He reached out his hand, and Superman reciprocated the gesture, shaking the man’s hand firmly.

“I only wish I could have done more,” Superman admitted, lowering his gaze a moment. “I should be going. Thank you.”

The man nodded and then turned back to his work.

Superman let out the breath he’d been holding and launched himself up into the sky, heading due east toward home. He ignored the pain in his arms, shoulders, and chest and blinked a few times to clear his blurry vision. The sun rose higher in the sky as he continued east, and he felt its comforting warmth boost his power slightly, allowing him to speed up a bit as he flew.

The trip across the country used to be faster, he noted. He’d timed himself at only a few seconds once. Now, it took several minutes. Although, given that he’d been working nonstop for over eight hours, mostly in the dark without the help of the sun’s power boost, he pushed away his concern with his lack of speed.

As he approached the brownstone that had been his and Lois’s home for years now, he did a quick scan of the neighborhood to ensure he wouldn’t be seen. Then he dropped down and landed softly inside. He closed the window behind himself and then turned around, his keen senses locating his wife downstairs in the kitchen. She appeared to be making eggs and toast, and an unfamiliar feeling of hunger washed over him, his stomach grumbling. He frowned. Since when had his body decided that he needed to eat?

He fought the urge to collapse in bed with exhaustion and instead turned to the bathroom. Stripping the suit off, he grimaced as sore muscles in his arms, legs, and back complained, and he tossed the dirty costume into the laundry basket before stepping under the hot stream of water. He stood for several minutes, allowing the water to wash away dirt, soot, and other debris and ease his aching muscles. He then washed himself thoroughly, taking his time.

As he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, a soft knock came at the door, and Lois peeked her head in. The gentle concern in her deep brown eyes told him she’d been following the news, and his jaw tightened involuntarily.

“You’ve been up here for a while, so I thought I should come and check on you,” she explained, stepping into the bathroom and closer to him.

He didn’t answer. His voice wouldn’t work. Instead, he just reached out for her, and she obliged, moving into his arms and embracing him. His body shook as he suppressed a sob, and he buried his head into her hair, breathing in her familiar scent. Her soft, cool hands rubbed circles on his back, and he felt some of the tension ease. As he had countless times, he wondered how he’d gotten by as Superman before he’d had her to come home to. He hugged her tighter.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

They stayed that way for several long seconds, and he could almost feeling himself recharging in her embrace. But then his stomach growled loudly, and with a grimace, he pulled away from her, his cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

“Hungry?” she teased, smiling gently at him.

“I guess so,” he replied.

He ducked his head slightly, trying to hide his alarm.

In the two months since he’d last met with Dr. Klein, he’d noticed a slow but obvious decline in his abilities, despite avoiding super activity that may lead to kryptonite exposure. He’d restricted himself mostly to helping with car accidents and natural disasters. Regardless, he’d noticed further decreases in his speed, strength, and stamina. And now, he actually felt weak with what had to be hunger, his stomach twisted in knots, gnawing at him.

Lois reached up and brushed his hair back out of his face. Her eyes studied his, and he carefully fixed his expression to conceal his concern.

“I made breakfast,” she explained, playfully patting his abdomen with her free hand.

He captured her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles lovingly. Her lips curled up in a smile.

“I’ll be right down,” he said.

She nodded and turned to leave. As she reached the doorway, she paused and glanced back over her shoulder at him, a frown on her face and her eyes narrowed.

“You don’t get hungry.”

It was a simple statement, but he froze and his shoulders tightened again as the tension returned. He quickly recovered, however, and shrugged dismissively, lowering his eyes. Was it still lying if he just said nothing?

He turned to face the mirror and stared at his reflection. A thin layer of stubble had formed on his chin.

“I’ll only be a minute. I need to shave and get dressed.”

He focused his heat vision carefully into the mirror, keeping the intensity of the beam low, and skillfully began removing the unwanted hairs.

“Okay.”

Her voice was laced with confusion, but he ignored her and kept focused on his task. She sighed heavily and then left the room, her footsteps disappearing down the stairs.

His jaw clenched, and after he finished “shaving,” he closed his eyes in frustration. He hated lying to her, even if it was technically lying by omission. He’d been doing it for two months now. Longer than that, actually, considering he’d never really told her about his gradually diminishing powers.

God, she’s going to be furious, he thought. She’d find out at some point. And probably pretty soon if he continued to decline.

He stared at himself in the mirror and grimaced as he noticed a very slight bluish-blackish tinge to the skin on his chest just below his right shoulder. He touched the spot experimentally and flinched as the light pressure caused a deep pain to shoot through his shoulder. It hurt. A lot. And he found himself holding back a curse as the pain continued to radiate down into his chest and up into his neck. He remembered when it had started—just a couple of hours ago, when he’d caught a massive slab of concrete falling from an overpass on Interstate 5, preventing it from crushing a tour bus full of passengers. But he hadn’t realized the pain was anything more than just another achy muscle, maybe a strain. This was much worse. There was a visible bruise.

And that wasn’t good.

He shook his head and scowled at his visage in the mirror. Five years of marriage. He should have learned by now that keeping secrets was never a good idea, especially when dealing with Lois Lane. He’d better find a way to tell her, and soon, before she figured it out herself. He headed out to the bedroom to get changed.


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